Floderus on his first time in freedom: It feels real – HD

Since Johan Floderus returned home a little over two weeks ago, he has devoted himself to what he calls the “real little things” in life — kayaking, eating good food, sleeping in a bed.

“I can walk more than three or four steps without my nose hitting a concrete wall. I feel the sun on my skin and the wind in my hair. Now I’m free and can be with my family and my wonderful fiancé,” he says.

Flodros was arrested on his way home from a trip to Iran in April 2022 at Tehran airport and taken to the notorious Evin Prison. When he was scheduled to meet with a judge a few days later, he was initially relieved, but after he was declared a suspect in spying against the Islamic Republic, his feelings quickly changed.

– It must have been clear to me because the judge said, “Don't worry, you will only be our guest here for two or three days.”

For eight months, Flodiros sat isolated from the world in various isolation cells with the light on around the clock. On several occasions he chose to go on hunger strike to be able to call home.

Only the night before the exchange did he find out that he and Saeed Azizi would be allowed to go home in exchange for Hamid Nouri.

“Sometime around midnight, a guard came into the cell and asked me to shave my beard. I’m an optimist and I can’t help but think that something good is happening now,” says Johan Floderus.